Hugh Grant says police have asked him to testify at an inquiry regarding a scandal involving the UK tabloid News of the World, which has come under fire for allegedly hacking into cellphones of celebrities and a teenage schoolgirl who was murdered.

"Then I went back a few months later to the pub he now runs in Dover and pretended to be dropping in for a pint and I bugged him," Grant said. "It seemed like symmetry. And I got him talking again about all these things and I published them all in The New Statesman."

McMullan told the BBC he agreed with Grant's words, adding: "Two pints of spitfire cost six Quid. You owe me six Quid. He didn't pay for his beer. Apart from that, it was fine."

"It was hilarious." McMullan said. "How can Hugh Grant coming in your pub with a silly little pen trying to record you be anything other than hilarious? I didn't mind being turned over. You couldn't believe that an actor who's very well-known lower himself to such tactics. I was shocked and outraged. No, I wasn't at all."

"You said it was evil," McMullan told Grant. "It's not really evil. It's all part of the game that helps you get publicity for your latest movies. Our interest was writing truthful stories and what better source of the truth that you can find on someone's old mobile (phone)."

Grant then told McMullan he should "try real journalism."

At least five people have been arrested by detectives investigating assertions that News of the World journalists hacked the phones of members of the UK royal family, politicians, celebrities, sports stars and Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old British schoolgirl from England who was murdered several years ago, to listen to their voicemail messages, Reuters reported.

News of the World has said it will admit liability and pay compensation in eight cases, the news wire added. Murdoch himself has said allegations that News Of The World staff hacked phones and paid police were "deplorable and unacceptable". Several weeks ago, actress Sienna Miller settled a lawsuit with News of the World for 10,000 pounds ($164,500), saying her cellphone was hacked as well.